E82. Ventilating the roof, walls and floor of a home

In this episode, Frank and Amelia dive into the crucial yet often overlooked topic of home ventilation. With changes to the National Construction Code and Bushfire Code, many modern homes are now so airtight that they’re trapping moisture, leading to mould, mildew, and poor air quality. They explore the Catch-22 of bushfire protection and ventilation, discussing how sealing homes against embers has inadvertently created unhealthy indoor environments.

The conversation compares older homes, which had built-in vents allowing natural airflow, to today’s tightly sealed homes, where fresh air circulation can sometimes be lacking. Frank breaks down why proper ventilation in floors, walls, and roofs is essential, particularly for timber floors, which can rot without adequate airflow.

Whether you’re designing a new home or renovating an existing one, this episode will help you understand why ventilation should be a top priority. Tune into this discussion with practical solutions, including bushfire-safe vents and other ways to maintain a healthy, breathable home.

👉 Listen now to learn how to protect and prioritise your home’s structure and your family’s health!

About us
Prime Design is a building design company locally owned and operated in Tasmania since 2004.  Our goal is to share as much valuable information as possible about the process of building design, extensions, and more. We will talk about a different topic each week. To suggest a topic you would like us to talk about contact us at info@primedesigntas.com.au

Disclaimer
The information provided on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, individual circumstances, or remedy. We strongly suggest you consult a qualified professional before taking any action based on the information provided in this podcast. The views, opinions, and information provided in this podcast are those of the hosts do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer, or company. All content provided on this podcast is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this podcast and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, or damages arising from its use. We reserve the right to change content or delete any information provided on this podcast at any time without prior notice.

Transcript

E82. Ventilating the roof, floor and walls of a home

[INTRO] (0:08 - 0:24)

Hello and welcome to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast, focused on providing valuable information for anyone looking to undertake a new build or extension project. We'll share our tips, tricks and stories from a building designers perspective. 

[Amelia] (0:24 - 0:43)

Hello and welcome to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast. I'm your host, Amelia, and once again, we're joined by Frank Geskus.

[Frank] (0:43 - 0:43)

Hi Amelia.

[Amelia] (0:44 - 0:45)

Happy Friday.

[Frank] (0:45 - 0:51)

Happy Friday. Love it. Got a nice glass of Tasmanian Cab Merlot and it's going down really well.

[Amelia] (0:51 - 0:58)

It is going down very nicely. It'll make our topic of conversation probably go really fast today, or our glasses empty really quickly.

[Frank] (0:59 - 1:00)

We've still got the rest of the bottle to go.

[Amelia] (1:00 - 1:02)

Oh jeepers. We have to drive home most of us.

[Frank] (1:02 - 1:09)

It's got to be responsible. But it's a nice Holm Oak, just a plug for them. Delicious.

[Amelia] (1:10 - 1:12)

Yep. Highly recommend that one. Very, very nice.

[Frank] (1:12 - 1:13)

So what are we going to talk about today?

[Amelia] (1:14 - 1:21)

Look, I thought we would have a chat about ventilation because we had a little bit of a discussion earlier in the week with the team on this.

[Frank] (1:22 - 1:22)

The whole team.

[Amelia] (1:22 - 1:31)

The whole team. And I thought it would be a really good topic to sort of get customers to understand a little bit more about it and why it is actually really important.

[Frank] (1:32 - 1:46)

It's very important and a very hot topic in our industry. It is. Due to some poor decisions made by the National Construction Code and the Bushfire Code.

And it's now caused major problems in houses all over Australia.

[Amelia] (1:46 - 2:00)

I mean, to be fair though, it's tricky because you've got the bushfire side of things where you try and tighten up a house and make it- 

[Frank]

So the embers don't get in. 

[Amelia]

Exactly. And then you've got the ventilation side of things, which is the opposite.

[Frank] (2:00 - 2:01)

Trying to get the air out.

[Amelia] (2:01 - 2:05)

Yeah. So it's sort of a catch-22 in some respects.

[Frank] (2:06 - 2:08)

I'll be honest, I think it's a bit narrow-sighted by everyone.

[Amelia] (2:08 - 2:09)

So where's the balance?

[Frank] (2:10 - 2:14)

You vent it with suitable vents for bushfire attack.

[Amelia] (2:14 - 2:14)

Okay.

[Frank] (2:16 - 2:52)

The technology was always there, but they never put it in writing. And it's really short-sighted by the people in charge making these rules. Because they bring a rule in, hey, we've got bushfire problems.

Let's tighten up all the houses. They won't burn. Now the houses don't burn.

We've got mould and mildew and all these houses aren't breathing. So they become sick. It's really foolish.

We were talking before about older houses, the 80s, 70s, 60s, 50s. And they were brick veneer, especially coming into the 40s. They're doing these. The brick and block was becoming popular. And then they had vents in all the rooms.

[Amelia] (2:52 - 2:53)

Yeah, our house has it.

[Frank] (2:53 - 2:58)

Yeah, it went into the wall. And none of these houses had insulation. 

[Amelia]

That's right.

[Frank] (2:58 - 2:59)

They were cold. 

[Amelia]

Yes.

[Frank] (2:59 - 3:05)

I grew up in- we all grew up in one, I suppose. Well, I did probably. And the insulation then was another jumper.

[Amelia] (3:05 - 3:07)

Yes. Yeah, rug up.

[Frank] (3:07 - 3:08)

Couldn't turn the heater on because you couldn't afford it.

[Amelia] (3:08 - 3:09)

Extra blanket.

[Frank] (3:09 - 3:10)

As my dad kept telling me.

[Amelia] (3:12 - 3:14)

I think that was the way back then.

[Frank] (3:14 - 3:50)

It was. It was. But look, they knew then you need to ventilate every room of the house. Naturally ventilate. It wasn't fans or anything. It was just vents in the wall.

And yes, it was cold and creeping crawlies came through it and all that. But they didn't have the same level of mould issues as we have now. Now it's all really tight.

And the only way you can get movement is cracking the window open. But if you're on a minus three night here in Launceston- 

[Amelia]

You don't really want to open your window. 

[Frank]

No, but you've still got to open your windows to get the dirty air out.

But also your roof's got to vent. Floor's got to vent. Your walls have got a vent. We've got a vent.

[Amelia] (3:50 - 3:50)

Yeah.

[Frank] (3:51 - 3:57)

You probably don't notice, but you don't want to breathe in dirty air from other people and yourself and moist air and all the rest of it.

[Amelia] (3:57 - 3:58)

Yeah.

[Frank] (3:58 - 3:59)

Because it is.

[Amelia] (3:59 - 4:00)

All the air from the bad curries.

[Frank] (4:01 - 4:03)

Yep. All that. Burnt the toast.

[Amelia] (4:03 - 4:04)

Yep.

[Frank] (4:04 - 4:05)

All that.

[Amelia] (4:05 - 4:06)

All that. I'm not going any further.

[Frank] (4:07 - 4:16)

Don't go any further. So yeah, you have those certain smells, but that's the least of your problems when the moisture gets high. And also, I would suggest when people are sick in the home.

[Amelia] (4:16 - 4:16)

Yeah.

[Frank] (4:16 - 4:19)

You get the flu, you get the lurgy. Not the man flu.

[Amelia] (4:20 - 4:20)

Not the man flu?

[Frank] (4:20 - 4:22)

Because it doesn't spread to women apparently.

[Amelia] (4:22 - 4:22)

Really?

[Frank] (4:23 - 4:36)

No. So your women keep telling us. So it's changing the air inside your house so it becomes healthy.

But what about the health around your floor, your wall, your roof? Might sound weird, doesn't it?

[Amelia] (4:36 - 4:47)

I guess a little bit. How many people that's designing and building a new house actually looks into this stuff? Probably none of them, to be fair.

[Frank]

They don't have to. 

[Amelia]

No, they don't have to. But they don't know…

[Frank] (4:47 - 5:56)

But they’re expected it to be right. 

[Amelia]

Exactly. And it doesn't cause a problem.

[Frank]

So I want to start on floors, timber floors. You have to have good ventilation because it gets moist. 

[Amelia]

Yeah, and it can rot if moisture gets in.

[Frank]

So you can have moisture coming through the ground. You have moisture coming from other areas. It could be high humidity.

And if you can't get enough ventilation, timber will rot. Straight fact. And plenty of designers and architects, builders, engineers, all these people know this for a fact.

There's plenty of floors that have failed and collapsed. And the ones that collapse the most is renovations I've seen. Where they've gone and replaced a floor, put in pine or whatever instead of the original hardwood, and it can't handle it.

And it's just destroyed. And they haven't provided enough space around to ventilate. Or in some cases, you do an extension and it actually messes up the ventilation.

You've got to put fans in underneath your floor. Now, I can't emphasise how important it is to vent under a floor. There is a slight problem where I've seen many times where people do their gardening and they've got the vents on the side of the house and they push their mulch, plants, dirt, and they cover up these vents.

[Amelia] (5:57 - 5:58)

Big no-no.

[Frank] (5:58 - 6:08)

Big no-no, because then your floor can't breathe. I've been under floors where you look up and the underside of the flooring is all beaded in moisture.

[Amelia] (6:09 - 6:10)

Oh, yuck.

[Frank] (6:10 - 6:21)

So it's wet, like really wet. It's dripping. And then what's going to happen? Your floor's going to rot. And most modern homes, that floor is generally chipboard. 

[Amelia]

Yes. 

[Frank]

It's like a sponge.

[Amelia] (6:22 - 6:22)

Yes.

[Frank] (6:22 - 6:41)

I remember seeing one house and it was really bad. And we pulled the carpet up in one corner and it was all this white mould, like a spiderweb, all underneath the carpet. So the base of the carpet was all white.

The top of the floor was timber. Chipboard was white. And they were wondering why people were getting sick in the home.

[Amelia] (6:41 - 6:42)

Yeah, yuck.

[Frank] (6:43 - 6:53)

Yeah. And that was due to lack of ventilation. They didn't deal with the drainage around the house as well. I've seen floors fail, as in collapse, as in fall through type stuff.

[Amelia] (6:53 - 6:53)

Yep.

[Frank] (6:53 - 7:03)

Yep. Seen in bathrooms. I saw one house where they didn't know it was an old river let, and they were at the lowest point of the subdivision and water went under the house all the time.

[Amelia] (7:03 - 7:03)

Really?

[Frank] (7:04 - 7:17)

Yep. That house we had to end up demolishing because it was so bad. 

[Amelia]

Oh, that's crazy.

[Frank]

It was unbelievable. 

[Amelia]

Wow. 

[Frank]

So yeah, and this is how serious it is. It will make you so sick. Moisture turns to mould in the right conditions.

[Amelia] (7:18 - 7:21)

Yes, you only have to have even a bathroom leak or anything like that.

[Frank] (7:21 - 7:27)

Oh, that's classic. Bathroom leak goes under the cupboard, goes under the carpet, and then you've got this mould growing under there, and you don't even know.

[Amelia] (7:27 - 7:28)

Yeah, sometimes you don't know.

[Frank] (7:29 - 7:33)

It's horrible. So keep your feet dry. Keep your floor dry.

[Amelia] (7:33 - 7:34)

Yes.

[Frank] (7:34 - 7:42)

So when you purchase a house, make sure you get inspections to make sure the floor in this timber floor is breathing properly. I'll move on to walls.

[Amelia] (7:43 - 7:44)

Yeah, you've got to ventilate those.

[Frank] (7:44 - 8:05)

Well, in the past, a lot of them didn't, which was really interesting. You go to really old homes with weatherboards. It's hardwood weatherboards.

In our case, in Tassie, a lot of the time, weatherboards stuck straight on. But the beauty was, the houses didn't move. They moved a lot.

The boards moved a lot, and there was heaps of gaps in them, so they breathed.

[Amelia] (8:05 - 8:07)

Well, I guess that's Tassie.

[Frank] (8:07 - 8:11)

But there was no insulation. They had plaster on the inside, and it was okay.

[Amelia] (8:12 - 8:12)

Yeah.

[Frank] (8:12 - 8:18)

But that's why they put vents in the wall, too. You know, those grills, especially in the 60s, 70s, had those plaster grills.

[Amelia] (8:18 - 8:18)

Yeah.

[Frank] (8:18 - 8:29)

And that helped breathe between the floor, potentially the roof as well, depending how it's been framed up. Very important. Again, you need to have that ventilation.

Now we fill it full of insulation.

[Amelia] (8:29 - 8:31)

Yes, so there's a cavity.

[Frank] (8:31 - 8:35)

Yes, and now we need to have a cavity. But for a long time, we didn't have this cavity.

[Amelia] (8:36 - 8:36)

Yeah, okay.

[Frank] (8:36 - 8:50)

For a real, like putting battens on, to put cladding on, so for lightweight cladding. It's only come in in the last five or six years, really. It's been enforceable in Tassie for about four or five years.

Bricks, they automatically have a cavity in there.

[Amelia] (8:51 - 8:51)

Yes.

[Frank] (8:51 - 8:53)

And we have a little hole at the bottom of the bricks.

[Amelia] (8:53 - 8:54)

Yes.

[Frank] (8:54 - 8:56)

Seen that? It's called a weep hole.

[Amelia] (8:56 - 8:57)

Yes, I have seen that. Yep.

[Frank] (8:57 - 9:05)

And they've got a little piece of plastic in there. It's called damp-proof, of course, so the moisture goes out. But it lets the whole wall cavity breathe, and that goes all the way to the roof.

[Amelia] (9:06 - 9:12)

And didn't you tell me once that you've been to properties before where there hasn't been a damp-proof course in there? They've forgotten to put it in?

[Frank] (9:12 - 9:43)

Yes, and that was on lightweight cladding, like you put a sheet or weatherboards. And I turned up, so they were framing, and they put the frame directly onto the slab. And I said, where's your damp-proof course?

Oh, we don't need one. Says, what makes you say that? Well, it's good practice to put damp-proof course under a plate onto concrete.

[Amelia]

Mm-hmm. Timber floor that's raised, yep, you don't need it. But I'm amazed how many times it got missed, so I got them to put it in.

It was a bit awkward, but they got it in there. It's just good practice to do that.

[Amelia] (9:43 - 9:43)

Yes.

[Frank] (9:43 - 9:48)

So if you're paying a lot of money for your house, you want these little details done right, so it never gives you a problem.

[Amelia] (9:49 - 9:49)

Yes.

[Frank] (9:49 - 9:58)

You know? So walls are important now. We make them breathe.

And we don't use silver paper anymore. We use a permeable membrane.

[Amelia] (9:58 - 9:58)

OK.

[Frank] (9:58 - 10:01)

So then the air can...

[Amelia] (10:01 - 10:01)

Can come through.

[Frank] (10:01 - 10:11)

Yes, and then the wall can breathe. So moisture goes through the plaster, through the insulation, it can go into the cavity. And it all comes down to dew points as well.

Yeah. Whole science to it.

[Amelia] (10:11 - 10:12)

Yeah, it would be.

[Frank] (10:12 - 10:17)

And we're going to have someone come on in a few weeks, I think, are we? An expert in condensation.

[Amelia] (10:17 - 10:19)

Yes, that's the plan, yes.

[Frank] (10:19 - 10:39)

Yep, so we'll be talking about that in more detail. I'll talk about the roof. Again, needs lots of ventilation.

In the old ways, before bushfire, you could get up into a roof, and you didn't need a torch in the middle of the day, because it was all loose and open, and it breathed beautifully. But now, with bushfire requirements, they all screw them really tight, even if there's no bushfire requirements, because that's how they do roofs now.

[Amelia] (10:40 - 10:48)

Does it matter about the type of roof? 

[Frank]

Yeah. 

[Amelia]

Or the material that's used?

For example, tile versus, you know, Colourbond?

[Frank] (10:48 - 10:51)

Well, that makes an interesting point, because tiles aren't tight.

[Amelia] (10:51 - 10:52)

No, that's what I thought.

[Frank] (10:52 - 10:59)

But if you're in a bushfire-prone zone, you need to put a paper underneath the tiles, so the embers don't get through.

[Amelia] (10:59 - 11:00)

Ah, okay.

[Frank] (11:00 - 11:03)

So again, it loses that power to ventilate.

[Amelia] (11:03 - 11:03)

Yes.

[Frank] (11:03 - 11:12)

So then we've got to look at alternative ways of venting the roof. And I've got videos of roofs that have condensated that bad and dripped through the light fittings.

[Amelia] (11:13 - 11:14)

Oh, that's not good.

[Frank] (11:15 - 11:20)

The insulation couldn't absorb any more, let the water go on the plaster, and then through the downlight.

[Amelia] (11:21 - 11:21)

Oh dear.

[Frank] (11:21 - 11:23)

Yeah, pretty ordinary.

[Amelia] (11:24 - 11:24)

Wow.

[Frank] (11:24 - 11:30)

Yeah. So, and that's what's happened, because of the rules they made, they hadn't thought about the consequences.

[Amelia] (11:30 - 11:33)

So, are there any ways around that?

[Frank] (11:33 - 11:39)

Yeah, well, you vent the roof. Like, all they had to say, vent the roof to this level.

[Amelia] (11:39 - 11:40)

Okay.

[Frank] (11:40 - 11:47)

And they just never thought about it, because they made a rule about protecting bushfire, but didn't protect it against mould built up from condensation.

[Amelia] (11:47 - 11:54)

So there are types of vents that are suitable for bushfire prone areas? 

[Frank]

Oh, 100%.

[Amelia]

Yeah, okay.

[Frank] (11:54 - 12:05)

But you've got to remember in Tasmania, we're only allowed to build to BAL 29. We can't go BAL 40. On the mainland, I believe in New South Wales, Victoria, I don't know the other states. You can go to flame zone if you want.

[Amelia] (12:05 - 12:05)

Yeah.

[Frank] (12:06 - 12:11)

I don't know how you vent for flame zone. I've never had to do it. So maybe someone can tell us how they do it.

[Amelia] (12:11 - 12:12)

Someone on the mainland, the big island?

[Frank] (12:13 - 12:44)

Yeah, because it's the different regs over there. So in Tasmania, we're limited. And okay, it restricts where you can build sometimes, but it's not a bad thing.

But there are events, we put them in the eaves, could be strips, could be like brick. You've got size of bricks or round ones you put in the eaves. And then at the ridge, the high point, you have a ember mesh, and you are able to vent through the ridge as well.

Now I'm talking about normal hip roof, and I'm not going to talk about the terms of roof. If you don't know what they are, I think we've got them on our website, the different types of roofs.

[Amelia] (12:44 - 12:48)

We do, and we also have a podcast episode about roof pitches.

[Frank] (12:49 - 13:04)

Yeah, but pitches are easier to look at. So when you're looking at roofs too, there's so many different types of roofs. You've got your standard roofs, your hip roofs, and they're common as, you know.

Everyone's got them pretty well. Gable ended roofs, got the nice triangles on the end.

[Amelia] (13:04 - 13:04)

Yes.

[Frank] (13:04 - 13:12)

Makes it easier to vent there as well. Then you've got the really flat roofs, what we call your skillions or the ones with parapets and they get that boxy look.

[Amelia] (13:12 - 13:13)

Yes. Very modern…

[Frank] (13:13 - 13:27)

They are a nightmare. They are an absolute nightmare to vent because there's no way to put the vents without it making look ugly. 

[Amelia]

True, yes.

[Frank]

So hard. And the flatter the roof, the more ventilation you need through if you look under the codes.

[Amelia] (13:28 - 13:28)

Okay.

[Frank] (13:28 - 13:35)

Because apparently, yeah, they condensate a lot more and they can't vent out and they can't get the moisture out as easily.

[Amelia] (13:35 - 13:42)

What about if you have like a nice raked ceiling? Obviously there's not a big cavity or anything there. I guess the skillion would be the same.

[Frank] (13:42 - 13:43)

We make a cavity.

[Amelia] (13:43 - 13:45)

Oh, you actually create one. 

[Frank]

Yeah, we'll put a cavity in there.

[Amelia] (13:45 - 13:56)

Okay. 

[Frank]

So you've got your nice lining, insulation and then between the roof sheeting and the insulation and the paper, we make sure there's an open ventilated space.

[Amelia] (13:56 - 13:57)

Okay.

[Frank] (13:57 - 14:11)

And then it vents either from the gable ends or from the fascias, we make sure it can vent. So we've come up with techniques on how to do this but a lot of this has come because of mistakes that have been made but a lot of it isn't quite regulated or not being enforced which blows my mind.

[Amelia] (14:11 - 14:12)

Really?

[Frank] (14:13 - 14:29)

Yeah. So if you're buying a house or sorry, if you're building a house, sorry, or renovating a house, insist on getting your roof well vented. So many times it's been missed.

It's starting to become more and more the building surveyors are pushing it but some building surveyors may not be on top of the ball with that but I'd be pushing it because you've got potential mould problems.

[Amelia] (14:30 - 14:44)

How do you recommend customers that are either building new or have purchased a property? I mean, obviously you said get an inspection for those that are buying established but what about for new homes? What can people do if they have concerns about this and they're not sure?

[Frank] (14:45 - 14:52)

If it's at the design stage, you can ask them to ensure that it's well vented. That's not going to cause me a problem for the life of the building.

[Amelia] (14:53 - 14:53)

Yes.

[Frank] (14:54 - 15:23)

They'll freak them out when you say that. I think a particular piece of mechanical ventilation could be very helpful. We've spoken about before, it's a heat recovery ventilation system, very common in Europe and they can remove all the dirty air out of your house, including the moisture, suck it clean out, bring fresh air in and then it can transfer the heat of the heated air and in Tassie we need that because we're a colder climate.

Grab the heat out of that, 85% of it, reheat the air coming in.

[Amelia] (15:23 - 15:28)

So would that potentially replace the need to have, you know, to open your windows all the time?

[Frank] (15:28 - 15:28)

Yes.

[Amelia] (15:28 - 15:29)

Okay.

[Frank] (15:29 - 15:33)

But it also comes down to changing your filters regularly, maintaining the system.

[Amelia] (15:33 - 15:33)

Yes.

[Frank] (15:34 - 15:55)

Okay. So there's a few catches with that and that's a good way because then there's less chance of moisture from... Because we, our bodies, we release moisture.

You know, you cook in your curry, there's going to be a lot of moisture. You know, you're cooking all this food, you're boiling your spuds and all the rest of it, there's going to be a lot of moisture and surprisingly, your extraction fan doesn't pull everything out.

[Amelia] (15:55 - 15:56)

No, that's very true.

[Frank] (15:57 - 16:04)

Yeah, you have a shower, the fan doesn't pull everything out because what happens when you leave the room? You know, you have a shower, leave the room, what do you do?

[Amelia] (16:05 - 16:11)

Well, you turn the fan off. Most people do but they should probably leave it on for a few minutes after they've gotten out of the shower.

[Frank] (16:11 - 16:16)

Would you believe under the regs, you're supposed to have a fan with a delay timer on it so it keeps going?

[Amelia] (16:16 - 16:20)

I don't know any that actually have that on there. I know mine doesn't.

[Frank] (16:20 - 16:24)

Yep, mine doesn't. I get into the habit of just leaving it on for, you know, 15 minutes.

[Amelia] (16:25 - 16:25)

It's a good idea.

[Frank] (16:26 - 16:58)

Yes. So yeah, there's a few things that are not being enforced from the building code. So that's where that ventilation is really important.

Get the moisture out. Bathrooms are the worst. So I think when you're talking to your designer, talk to make them...

Because you don't know you're going to have a problem. I've got to go back to that. You don't know if you're going to end up having a mould problem till years and years down the track and you may not even know because it's hidden behind the wall cavity, it's under the floor, it's in the roof.

You don't know because you don't go into that space until someone gets sick or you don't know why they're sick.

[Amelia] (16:58 - 17:03)

Or finally, there's signs that there is mould coming through or moisture coming through somewhere.

[Frank] (17:03 - 17:16)

And my eyes have only been open to this in the last five or six years where you go to Renault's and you're doing extensions and you're pulling walls out and you can see little bits of mould, black mould on the stud frames.

[Amelia] (17:16 - 17:17)

Oh, really?

[Frank] (17:17 - 17:51)

Yeah, only a couple of them, yeah. So there's even a thinking like you build a brand new home, timber framed say, but the timber has moisture and it's not fully dried and climatised to its space where it's being installed. Now there's a thinking of putting a dehumidifier.

Once you've got the building wrapped up, windows in and all that, you put a dehumidifier in there to get the equilibrium of the moisture content of the timber. So once you seal it, because that's what you're doing, once you put the insulation plaster on, it's all wrapped up, it's sealed.

[Amelia] (17:51 - 17:54)

Yeah, and you don't want any moisture in there, do you?

[Frank] (17:54 - 17:59)

Well, you're allowed a minimum amount of moisture but you want to be able to reduce the chance of mould growth.

[Amelia] (17:59 - 18:00)

Yes.

[Frank] (18:00 - 18:04)

So then why don't we dry our houses out before we install everything else out?

[Amelia] (18:04 - 18:05)

Makes sense.

[Frank] (18:05 - 18:09)

Yeah, it makes sense until, but you don't realise, you don't know what you don't know and you can't see it.

[Amelia](18:09 - 18:10)

Very true.

[Frank] (18:10 - 18:35)

So I think those things have got to be taken care of and I'm a big fan for the heat recovery ventilation systems because it gets all the dirty air out of your house and you've got fresh air all the time and you've got HEPA filters on, HEPA filters. So then for those in Tasmania, specifically with allergies, with their hay fever, because it seems like every second person in Tasmania has got hay fever. 

[Amelia]

Or asthma.

[Frank]

Or asthma.

[Amelia] (18:35 - 18:36)

Asthma's a big one.

[Frank] (18:37 - 18:44)

That HEPA filter that built into that ventilation system can take out quite a number of those nasties in the air.

[Amelia] (18:44 - 18:45)

Yeah, good idea.

[Frank] (18:45 - 18:48)

Those nasties are in the environment though, that's the crazy thing.

[Amelia] (18:48 - 18:49)

True, that's true.

[Frank] (18:49 - 18:51)

So you can take that out.

[Amelia] (18:52 - 18:52)

Very cool.

[Frank] (18:53 - 18:56)

So vent your house, let your house breathe.

[Amelia] (18:57 - 18:58)

Yes, good idea.

[Frank] (18:58 - 19:08)

So that gives you a little bit of an insight and there's lots of debates and we've got an expert coming in a little while to talk about it further and potentially give some more ideas and tips.

[Amelia] (19:09 - 19:10)

Yeah, that'd be great.

[Frank] (19:10 - 19:11)

So vent your house.

[Amelia] (19:11 - 19:17)

Vent your house, open your windows or look at installing a heat recovery ventilation system.

[Frank] (19:18 - 19:20)

Actually is a very good start.

[Amelia] (19:20 - 19:20)

Yeah.

[Frank] (19:20 - 19:23)

Oh, and better fans in your bathroom.

[Amelia] (19:23 - 19:25)

Oh, don't get me started on that.

[Frank] (19:25 - 19:29)

Don't get offended of this but the IXL tactics do not draw enough air.

[Amelia] (19:30 - 19:31)

Whatever we've got is terrible.

[Frank] (19:32 - 19:40)

Yeah. So put an individual fan in over your shower or an inline fan that will suck the spaghetti out of your saucepan, you know, just will just suck all the steam out.

[Amelia] (19:40 - 19:42)

Suck the spaghetti out of your saucepan.

[Frank] (19:43 - 19:46)

So yeah, find something that'll just suck all the steam out.

[Amelia] (19:46 - 19:46)

Yeah.

[Frank] (19:46 - 19:48)

And then keep it on afterwards.

[Amelia] (19:48 - 19:49)

Good idea.

[Frank] (19:49 - 19:51)

Just dry out your wet areas as much as possible.

[Amelia] (19:52 - 19:52)

Yeah.

[Frank] (19:52 - 19:56)

Oh, laundry dryers. Make sure to vent it outside.

[Amelia] (19:56 - 19:57)

Yes.

[Frank] (19:57 - 19:59)

Don't turn your laundry into a sauna.

[Amelia] (19:59 - 20:02)

Yes, that's really... I've heard of that one before actually.

[Frank] (20:02 - 20:02)

Oh, it's crazy.

[Amelia] (20:03 - 20:06)

And you don't often think of that, that it can cause mould, but I mean...

[Frank] (20:06 - 20:10)

Read the instructions. It tells you to actually vent it outside. 

[Amelia]

Yes.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Amelia] (20:11 - 20:13)

All right. Any take home points for anyone?

[Frank] (20:13 - 20:14)

Yeah, vent your house.

[Amelia] (20:14 - 20:17)

Vent your house. Oh, well, yeah, that's pretty straight forward.

[Frank] (20:17 - 20:20)

That's the theme. So, you know, like it's a good idea. We'll just stick with that, eh?

[Amelia] (20:20 - 20:24)

Yeah. We better finish this wine. Thanks for listening to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast.

[Frank] (20:24 - 20:25)

Catch you later.

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